Georgia man accused of killing wife, burning body arrested in Louisiana

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. - Kenneth Hardin Jr., who is accused of killing his wife and burning her body, was arrested in Louisiana on Wednesday. He is currently awaiting extradition to Georgia to face charges of killing his wife, Carrie Hardin. 

"The officers could definitely tell immediately that there was somebody with some blood loss and that somebody had attempted to clean the crime scene," said Fayette County Sheriff Barry Babb. 

Carrie Hardin’s body, which showed signs of gunshot wounds, was discovered on Wednesday in a shallow grave behind the couple's home along Merlin Court in Fayetteville. 

"It’s shocking as hell… definitely seems like something that would be on like one of those shows, I didn't expect that," the sheriff said. 

According to a statement from the sheriff’s office, her remains were partially burned and buried under yard debris. 

Kenneth Hardin Jr. (St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office)

"He had related that his son had purchased a plane ticket for him to fly to Georgia, and met him at a bank earlier," the sheriff said. 

Sheriff Babb says Hardin handed over all his bank accounts and other fiscal responsibilities to his father. It was what Hardin next told his father which prompted his father to report it to law enforcement. 

"He had told his father that he had shot his wife and pretty much that he was now going to be on the run," the sheriff said. 

The 39-year-old Hardin allegedly told his father that "he killed his wife in self-defense, burned her body and was leaving town."

Dozens of investigators combed through the property, reviewing surveillance video and collecting evidence as deputies.

"The tragedy is here was a family that is now completely imploded. And you've got more than one victim that's deceased. You've got you've got a lot of victims, especially those little boys," the sheriff said.

Fayette County deputies tracked Kenneth Hardin to a motel in Covington, Louisiana. With assistance from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office and the Louisiana State Patrol, Hardin was apprehended by a SWAT team in his motel room. 

"I got almost basically two calls at the same time, that the cadaver dog located our victim, which was buried in a very shallow grave on the back part of the property. And at the same time that the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office took him into custody without incident," the sheriff said.

He was being held at the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center as a fugitive from justice as of late Thursday evening. 

Fayette County investigators are in Louisiana for further questioning of the suspect as they are preparing for his extradition to Georgia. 

"He is completely cooperating to the point that I will tell you that Captain Lee, who has been an investigator at least three decades, said, ‘I've never had a homicide suspect, want to tell us everything.’ And I asked him over the phone on speakerphone just minutes before you came in here, ‘Do you believe him?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely,’" the sheriff said. 

The couple's two children, who are in elementary school and middle school, are in the care of the family.